Township sets millage rates for winter tax bills

There may be some relief for Grand Haven Township taxpayers on their upcoming winter bills.

The Township Board this week approved the new millage rates. The total proposed millage rate for the township is 4.6117 mills, or 0.2809 below the rate levied by the township for the 2016 winter tax bills.

This means the owner of a $100,000 home in 2016 with a $50,000 taxable value ($100,300 in 2017 with a $50,450 taxable value) will pay approximately $11.97 less on their upcoming winter tax bill. This includes the just over 1 percent adjustment to the taxable value for the increase in the 2017 consumer price index.

“We will be levying that Dec. 1 for our fiscal year of 2018 (budget),” Township Assessor Denise Chalifoux said.

According to Chalifoux, 0.22 mill of the 2017 decrease is due to the payoff of the township’s water debt. The other reduction comes in the form of a Headlee Amendment reduction.

The Headlee Amendment requires tax rates to be rolled back if the increase in a taxing unit's taxable value — excluding changes from new construction, improvements and losses — is greater than the rate of inflation.

Grand Haven Township’s taxable value increased by almost 4 percent, while the rate of inflation was only 0.09 percent.

“We are a growing population, and they seem to be coming to our township,” Chalifoux said. “We’re spreading it out further.”

The law also requires the state to appropriate necessary funds to local units for any new state-required services and prohibits the state from reducing the state share of existing required services.

Additionally, the Headlee Amendment states that a taxing unit can’t generate more revenue than it generated in a previous year unless it hosts a Truth in Taxation public hearing, which the township conducted Monday night.

Even with the millage rate reduction, the township anticipates bringing in more tax dollars than in 2016, not factoring in the water debt. Additional revenue is expected to be just over 2 percent of the amount levied in 2017.

This year’s millage rate is expected to generate a total of $3.45 million, while the 2016 millage rate generated $3.36 million, not including the $15,470 in water debt.